New on DVD Jan. 5: ‘Sicario’ is criminally good

If you have any money left from returning all those Christmas gifts, there are several new DVDs hitting stores Tuesday, Jan. 5.

“Sicario,” Grade: ☆☆☆1/2: Idealistic FBI agent finds herself involved in a no-rules war on drugs. Director Denis Villeneuve fashions a film that looks at real evil, with Emily Blunt providing a voice of reason in a twisted world. The result is the scariest picture of the year.

Taylor Sheridan’s script allows time for an assortment of views on how the war on drugs should be fought. Each argument rings true until the violent reality of this world raises its ugly head.

Greed and corruption always trump compassion and concern.

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Villeneuve knows exactly how to layer the terror. In some cases it’s a slow build, such as a security stop at the border crossing between the United States and Mexico. The efforts to transport a high-profile prisoner attract the attention of a crew of killers in nearby cars.

“The Walk,” Grade: ☆☆1/2: Philippe Petit’s attempt to walk a line between the Twin Towers is exhilarating, but the weakness in Robert Zemeckis’ film is the long buildup to get there. James Marsh’s 2008 Oscar-winning documentary on the same subject is far more compelling.

Between the bad accent and a soundtrack that sounds like it came from a 1950s French crime caper, the majority of “The Walk” fails to be either a revealing tale of one man’s impossible dream or a peek into the elaborate planning it took to pull off the walk in the sky. It took Petit six years to plan the twin towers walk, but the Zemeckis film doesn’t create the feeling that this was such an obsession that Petit was willing to commit so much of his life to taking the walk.

“The Visit,” Grade: No stars: A trip to Grandmother’s house isn’t all that welcoming. M. Night Shyamalan has put together another poorly written offering that also has the visual inspiration of a blank piece of paper. Shyamalan has put so little effort into making this film, he resorts to the “found footage” gimmick that went out of favor years ago.

About the only good thing that can be said about “The Visit” is that Shyamalan’s “The Village” is no longer the worst movie the director has ever made. That honor now firmly belongs to “The Visit.”